The rocks in the photo look like common pea gravel. If so, they are of the wrong size (too large) and also too smooth. You need the craggy, more porous texture of fine gravel (crushed rock) or grit to provide proper aeration in your soil mix as well as helping with some moisture retention. Pea gravel will not help to retain any moisture. You want sharp, rough edges, not a smooth surface.

@mblan13 thank you. will do first thing in the morning!

@gardengal48 i have pine bark, pumice (someone said it retains moisture) and this rock. please advise if that's okay?

Not gardengal - I am sure she will reply; I just want to answer regarding pumice: It doesn't retain too much water. Water holding capacity of pumice (3/16" size) is approx. 25%.

Rocks you have that look like pea gravel to me too, are too large for the mix as gardengall already pointed out.

Here is photo of grit that many use in mixes:

Ohh okay, NOW i get it. it really late last night when i checked gardenweb. i might've been too sleepy to comprehend stuff then. please forgive me!

i'll try to get the rough-edged stones then. fine gravel it is. i'll post a picture if any of you wants to approve of it in the future. heh

please correct me if im wrong, but the fine gravel would be a sub for the grit right?

i cant find crushed granite in my area. the only seller i found has a minimum order of granite worth approx. $70+ so, no go for me! also none of the feed stores in here sell grit. they only have crushed shells for pigeons

btw, thank you all. its your names i always see responding. sometimes i think youre the only people in this forum! i'll try my best not to bug you until after the holidays are over. thanks again. enjoy the holidays!!

Few ppl living in your country mentioned that they can't find "chicken grit" in feed stores. That is place where I can get it from here in Canada, and quite inexpensive. I buy it in bags of 50lb (approx. 22kg) for about CD $10. It isn't easy to find bark in smaller size either - it is available, but all is much too big for the proper mix.

Crushed shells are often added (I make sure grit I buy has none); or you can buy 100% crushed shells - that is good for chickens and pigeons, but not for plants that prefer little more acidic substrates.

Fine gravel should not be much smaller than what I posted picture of. I think maybe smallest 3mm? - hopefully someone will add more info.

Can you get perlite? Or pumice? I have some plants in large containers potted in a mix of soil and lots of coarse perlite. I know many ppl avoid perlite since it is very light and eventually floats to the surface, but it is not easy to find pumice around here and perlite works very well (I use gravel as in your picture for top-dressing, and it keeps perlite down). Using lots of perlite makes mix quite well draining. Perhaps you noticed on C&S forum that some ppl use 50/50 (or more % of perlite) for their succulent mix. If you can get pumice easily (and less expensive), I believe it would be good to use.

I actually do have pumice! Theyre the easiest to find. Thank you!

Hey, so this is the most gravel looking sharp edged rock i can see from my garden center. But idk. This rock is weird. I can break some pieces in half